Optimizing Rapid Prototyping Technology - Replacing Roller Distribution System by Pneumatic Conveying System

摘要

Great improvements are continuously being made in the solid freeform fabrication (SFF) industry in terms of processes and materials. Fully functional parts are being manufactured directly with minor finishing. Parts are being directly fabricated with engineering materials such as ceramics and metals. This paper aims to facilitate a substantial advance in rapid prototyping capabilities, in terms of fabricating parts with continuously heterogeneous material compositions. As SFF is an additive building process, building parts layer-by-layer or even point-by-point by adjusting material composition throughout the entire part, in all three dimensions, is feasible. The use of fine powders as its material of construction provides the potential for the selective laser sintering (SLS), three-dimensional printing (3DP), and freeform powder molding (FPU) processes to be altered to create continuously heterogeneous material composition. The objective of the study is to replace the current roller distribution system with a new means of delivering the powder that facilitates selective faster and heterogeneous material compositions with less amount of time This paper explores a pneumatic conveying deposition system that has the potential to deliver the powder in a controlled manner using a nozzle as in FDM and allow for adjustment of material composition throughout the layer and with lesser time than the existing roller system. The use of proposed method reduces the time to deposit material hence there is reduction in time taken to fabricate a component resulting overall cost reduction.